Jewel’s new gigs

Singer-songwriter is now an author, an actress and — most importantly — a mom

Jewel on …

Becoming a mother: “It’s been a blast. He’s a sweet and happy little baby. He’s been a blessing.”

Not being on a label: “Everything is different now for me. Not being on a label is really freeing. I don’t have to think about genres and tours and promotions. I just write. It’s a nice place to be. I don’t have to promote heavily, and I don’t have to be on the road for a year.”

Being on Twitter (@jeweljk): “I try to interact with the fans. My fans, since the beginning, have been hard-core Internet users. They were spreading the word about my music in the early ’90s using the Internet. We’re actually in college textbooks as one of the first who used the Internet for grass-roots marketing.”

Ask Jewel about what’s going on in her life right now, and you’ll get a very specific answer.

“Right now, I’m watching my son crawling around the floor,” the singer-songwriter said the other day by phone from Telluride, Colo., where she was vacationing with her husband, rodeo cowboy Ty Murray, and young son, Kase Townes.

You can’t blame her. Being a new mom to a baby boy — he was born in July of last year — has changed a lot of her routine.

“I haven’t toured in a while,” said the four-time Grammy nominee, who’s playing Friday at Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay. “I’m busy — and enjoying — being a mom right now.”

Well, that’s not all she’s been doing. Hardly.

She has a new picture book coming out in a week and a half. Titled “That’s What I’d Do” (Simon & Schuster; 32 pages) and illustrated by Amy June Bates, the book is paired with a CD and is a lullaby “that celebrates my love for my son,” Jewel said.

“I wrote a book for my baby. I really hope my son likes words. Words are a big part of my life,” said the singer-songwriter who also considers herself a poet. “There’s a poetic sensibility that I want to share with him, and I hope this book does that.”

Singer-songwriter. Poet. Author. And now actress. Make that leading actress.

Although she’s had minor TV and movie roles before, her first major role came this summer when Lifetime tapped her to star in “The June Carter Cash Story,” a biopic based on the memoir “Anchored in Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash,” written by Carter Cash’s son, John. The movie, filmed in Atlanta this summer, is scheduled to premiere later this year.

“It was fun to portray someone I admired,” Jewel said.

What wasn’t fun?

“Not that it wasn’t fun, but it was hard — acting was hard,” she said. “I’m not an actress, and it terrified me. I think that’s why I said yes when they cold-called me and asked me to take the part.”

She was away from home for a month — “we filmed an entire lifetime in a month. … It was crazy.”

Home for the last 10 years is Stephenville, Texas, where she and her husband own and run a working 3,000-acre ranch. How does an Alaska girl who had a detour in San Diego like living in a Texas ranch?

“I like the ranch part, but I live in Texas, where it was 110 degrees yesterday,” she exclaimed. “My Alaskan heinie is not acclimating to it.”

On a typical day, she might be putting out hay or fixing a fence or, when she needs to get away, riding a motorcycle. She has two: a Can Am Spyder and a BMW F 650 GS.

When she’s in San Diego this week, though, her day, if she has time, might start with a visit to old haunts like Swami’s, Windansea or Pacific Beach.

“I miss everything about San Diego. What’s not to miss? I wouldn’t be where I am today if it were not for my original coffee shop fans,” said Jewel, alluding to her early days as a musician, circa early ’90s, when she performed at Inner Change coffeehouse in Pacific Beach.

“And you know what? It’s amazing how many of my original fans from those days always show up at my shows. It’ll be great to see them again and talk and tell stories.”

And sing songs, of course.

“Yes, I always have to do my homework when I come back to San Diego, because they want songs from those early days,” said Jewel, whose 1995 debut album “Pieces of You” stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for two years and sold more than 12 million copies in the U.S.

Before she does all that prep work for her Humphrey’s show, though, there’s something else to attend to right now: that little baby boy crawling on the floor.